Pages

Saturday, May 30, 2015

༺ Stitching Stories: A 'Round the House Wrap Dress ༻

*whew*

Am I ever so glad that this dress is done! I have never had so much trouble
putting together a sewing project before ~ not because it didn’t come together
easily enough, that wasn’t the problem ~ it was because I just couldn’t get the
dang thing to sit right! (┛◉Д◉)┛*rage*
I suppose this is where experienced seamstresses look pointedly at their muslins
and toiles {“twahl” for those of you that don’t “sew speak”, so to
speak.; P}, then at me, then back at
the neat little muslin sitting on the dress form…..

Yah. Ain’t nobody got time for that! Least ways, I don’t.

I found out that the bodice of my 90% completed dress was not fitting
correctly because of my nursing bust size, even though I’d measured the pattern
and thought that it would fit. The design of the back of the neck was not
working for me either. It wouldn’t sit right no matter how I adjusted it ~ up or
down!

Getting the dress to fit required a lot of what my coding Mister calls
“hacking”. In my sewing world however, hacking involves taking a sharp pair of
scissors to already sewn seams and hacking the bajeebies out of the fabric along
strategically drawn chalk lines.

I cut roughly two inches out from the back of
the neck, and lopped off three to seven inches from the sleeves, then hemmed the
skirt up by five inches. It was a risk that the whole thing would fall apart if I snipped too much,
or in the wrong place, but it paid off as the dress sits much better around the
neckline now.

It isn’t all weird and bunchy like it was before. I don’t quite know what was happening, but the back of the dress sat really high up on the
back of my neck, and it was making the darts sit in the wrong place, which was
making the bodice puff up really strangely above the bust.

Of course, getting it to work took a lot of extra fiddling,
which took a lot of extra time, and I ended up taking way too long on this
project. Plus, I’ve been sick as a dog for the last week, which means May is
officially up and I didn’t manage to get my other project ~ a winter blouse
~ done this month. (TT ^
TT)
So, only one more project ticked off the great Sewing All
the Things challenge of 2015, but at least it actually happened because I
was worried there for a moment that I would end up having to toss the whole
dress.

~ The source of much trouble! ~
Next question ~ does anyone want to purchase this pattern? It will come with
all the original pieces of the pattern, the original instructions {taped,
because they are falling apart}, the original envelope, and also a copy of
the bodice, sleeve, facings, waist inserts, tie, and pocket pattern pieces all
traced onto Polytrace {similar to Swedish Tracing Paper ~ it’s a soft, woven
fabric-like paper}. Basically, I traced off everything but the skirt, so
you can work straight from the pattern copy.

If you would like to buy the pattern, along with the the Polytrace copies for
$20.00 AUD, please email me with your Paypal address and mailing address, and I
can send off an invoice which will also include whatever the P+P will cost.

Fabric: 2 1/2 metres of red and green sprig floral of
poly-cotton{?}. I have no idea about the fibre content of this fabric as my
Grandmother gave it to me.

Notions: None, is a wrap dress.

Time to complete: Three weeks

Make again? Nope. I really don’t want to make this dress
again. It was just such a hassle to get it working properly that I
really don’t want to go through all of that again. I like the dress, but not
that much.

Wear again? I will, but I think it’ll probably be in my
“around the house, running errands, going to playgroup, etc” wardrobe. Which is
okay with me because I need more vintage around the house clothes anyway.

Total Cost: $0.00 ~ yay for stash busting!

Have any of you had sewing dramas with almost-but-not-quite-failure projects
before? Would you seam rip to make it work, or try ‘hacking’ it up? Plus, how
great are my new shoes ~ right? (ノ ゜ω゜)ノ

28 comments:

The shape is so perfectly 40's! The resulting dress is really cute, even if it was a hassle to get there. Some sewing projects just don't want to behave, I have been there! Good job sticking it out and hacking your way through :)

A job *very* well done! The finished result is charming and flattering- and wow! I so, so admire you for pushing through even though it looked so hopeless!! I really hate it when that happens, especially since it seems to affect the mood when the dress is worn afterwards... I hope that the dress gives you much and increasing enjoyment with wear and that all the frustrations are forgotten with time. ;-)

Well the end result looks lovely, and worth all the hassle! I occasionally have the same problems with patterns too, and often with vintage patterns, I find the sleeve looks short in the illustration, but when I make it, it comes out elbow length on me! So I often have to hack off 3 or more inches as well

You look so gorgeous here - I love this little dress and headscarf set! I'm really impressed that you're able to alter something that went wrong in the way you described. I'm so envious of your skills! CC x

Oh, I so know what you mean Lily! I was looking at the dress even after I was finished thinking "Ugh, it really doesn't look good, I don't like it, etc..." and that just kind of ruins the fun that you finished your sewing project.

I also the hope the frustrations will be forgotten, but not enough that I risk tackling this pattern again ~ I'm so done with it! :P

They could if they looked inside! My neck facing is now centimeters deep instead of the original inches... :P But no one is exactly going to come along and whip it off me to inspect the inside seams, so I think I'll cope. (>_<)!

Yes, that's exactly what happened to me too Dixie! I wanted to have longer sleeves, but they ended at that awkward right in the middle of the elbow length and just looked so silly. At least sleeves are easy to chop up and alter. :D

Great job! I think this dress looks fabulous, it reminds me so much for the Swirl dresses from the 50s. I'm glad that your "hacking" (and I love how literal that term is being used here) paid off. <3, Jessica, Zella Maybe

Yeah, like when you are looking at the muddle of fabric in your lap and wondering how on earth it's ever going to turn out to be some thing wearable! (> O <)

The appeal is definitely there for me too, but the problem is that because I *mostly* get away with the fit straight from the pattern {after doing a standard FBA} or by adding a little dart here and there after the fact if I need it, I tend to think that I don't have time for them if I'm actually going to get a project done! Particularly with this sewing challenge.

But maybe that should be my challenge for next year, sew some muslins! And I guess the other thing is: most of my fashion fabric isn't expensive. If I was sewing with silk, or wool or lace, I'd definitely be doing a muslin. But when I'm sewing with cotton, I don't mind as much if I have to hack it to make it work. :P

Your shoes are sensational - much like this flat out marvelous dress itself. I'm sorry that you ran into issues with it during the construction process, I'm sure that was more than a little bit frustrating. The struggle was worth it though, I do believe, as the finished product is head-turningly awesome and you look flat out gorgeous in it, my dear.

Despite the problems you had sewing the dress, it looks absolutely gorgeous on you!! I absolutely love wrap dresses like this!! So beautiful!I love your description of "hacking." I can completely relate!! ;)I love your matching hair tie, by the way! I need to make one of those!!

I used to be able to get away with no adjustments, and I don't yet know my "regular" adjustments, so it seems like a good idea now! Also, it fits in with my "learn to do things properly" goal for 2015!

And I tend to be a sucker for expensive fabric so...that does contribute! I have ruined some lovely things in the past :P

Yes, learning the adjustments that you will always have to make definitely makes the process faster. When I know I always have to do a FBA, that just means I can do it and get on with sewing. And like I said before, most other fit issues that pop up for me {depending on the pattern} can be solved with a dart or two!

Oooooh, ouch! I haven't quite ruined anything just yet ~ but I came awfully close with this dress. And actually I almost trashed the next dress I cut out as well! But that'll be a story for when I finish it... If I get too! (◉ Д ◉)

Gorgeous look - these photos are so pretty, and it's a very lovely dress. What a shame it was so tricky!! You are really very clever though to have whipped it up, I made a simple skirt once and that took me at least a month! x

AddThis

Welcome Profile Pic

About

Hello! I am a vintage blogger currently living in South East Asia with my family.As a busy mom traveling with three small children, this is one place where I can share my love of wearing pretty dresses and vintage fashion. My philosophy for fashion is "Find beauty in life, and reflect your own true, beautiful self in your style."

I firmly believe that vintage and retro fashion is for everyone! Ladies of all ages and walks of life, and I want to share that in my style journey, and I hope to inspire others in theirs!

I am so happy to see you here, don't forget to say hi as I'd love to meet you. ♡